


Living Off Hope

by mggislife2789



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Gen, tsunami
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-27
Updated: 2016-11-27
Packaged: 2018-09-02 12:30:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8667763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mggislife2789/pseuds/mggislife2789
Summary: A tsunami hit Indonesia, where Penelope's best friend, Y/N is teaching English for the Peace Corps. Desperate to find her friend, she and the team fly over to help with rescue efforts, hoping to find Y/N.Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters or their original stories. This is only for fun. It's where my brain goes after the credits roll. No copyright intended. Better safe than sorry. ;)





	

Hotch, Rossi and JJ walked into the conference room to find Penelope staring blankly at the tv screen. She was staring directly at the crawling text on the bottom of the screen.

9.1 magnitude earthquake hits Sumatra, Indonesia causing devastating tsunami.

“Oh my god,” she gasped, the tears forming in her eyes as she watched the nearly seven meter swells tear apart the shore. “Oh, god, no.”

“That’s awful. Are you okay, Penelope?” she asked, concerned about the obvious distress playing across Penelope’s face.

“No,” she said shakily. “My best friend…Y/N. Remember her? I told she was volunteering for a year with the Peace Corps? She works as an English teacher there. The school is right there, I…I have to do something,” she said, quickly turning around and rushing toward her office.

“Sir,” she asked Hotch, “do you need me here? Can I get a few days off? Once the area is given the clear, I need to go over there. I need to find her. She’s all I have from my childhood, I have to find her. She needs to be alive. Please?”

“Penelope,” Hotch said, trying to calm her down. “You take all the time you need.”

“Thank you, sir.”

——————

As soon as she touched the ground, Penelope made her way toward the area where the tsunami hit with the rest of the volunteers - some of which she recognized. At the back of the bus sat Spencer, Derek, Hotch, Rossi, JJ and Emily. “What are you guys doing here?” she asked surprised.

“We may not be able to stay as long as you,” Derek said, standing up and giving her a hug, “but Y/N is important to you, so she’s important to us.”

“Thank you,” she shook, “She has to be okay, right?”

“She’s gonna be okay,” Derek said, rubbing Penelope’s arms. “She’s gotta be okay.” He just hoped his words didn’t ring false.

——————

It had been one of the largest tsunamis in recent history; they desperately needed volunteers. Once on the ground, everyone had been trained how to abide by all the necessary safety regulations. No one was to work alone. Safety equipment such as gloves and goggles were to be worn at all times - and absolutely no climbing on piles of debris to clear out. Everything was to be cleared out from the outside, all the way in. Although many people were just there as volunteers, some were there to search for a loved one. 

“Can I please be assigned to Sutomo 1?” Penelope asked. “My friend was assigned there on a Peace Corps assignment as an English teacher. Please,” she begged. “I need to find her.”

“Okay,” the volunteer soothed, seeing the strain in Penelope’s face. “You and your friends will be assigned to the block with Sutomo 1 with the rest of that group. I hope you find your friend.”

“Thank you,” she replied.

She turned toward her friends, pointing them towards the bus that would take them to the block where Sutomo 1 was located. “She has to be okay,” she said to herself, climbing her way onto the bus. “She just has to be.”

——————

As the bus swerved its way through the disaster torn streets of the city, Penelope, her friends and the rest of the volunteers looked on in horror. This particular area wasn’t flooded with water anymore - it was too far inland, but it had been torn apart by the swells, which had made their way onto land. Once outside, they were each point in a direction, with Penelope and her friends being assigned to the school where Y/N was supposed to be just days earlier. It had only been three days since the tsunami hit - everyone had been telling Penelope not to get her hopes up, but she couldn’t help herself. Y/N could be alive and Penelope had to live off hope. She didn’t know how to live any other way.

For hours upon hours, Penelope, Derek and Hotch, who had taken a particular section of the school, had moved piece after piece of debris - unearthing the bodies of children and adults alike, most of which had died days ago - the scared looks on their faces frozen there in time.

“Over here,” Spencer called out, grabbing the small hand of an eight-year-old girl from the rubble. She hadn’t eaten in three days and only lived on what water made it through the cracks in the debris, but she was alive. Seeing that bit of hope amongst all the devastation gave Penelope the determination she needed to move forward.

“See,” she said to Derek and Hotch, “That little girl is alive, which means Y/N could be too.” They had been starting to lose hope. She immediately immersed herself back into moving debris from one area to another, desperate to find her friend. “Come on, Y/N,” she whispered, the sweat falling from her brow onto the ground below. “Please be alive.”

Penelope worked her way towards what was the center of the school, where a large piece of stone was in the way. There was no way she could move that by herself. “Help me,” she said, rallying Hotch, Derek, Rossi, JJ, Spencer and Emily to her side.

“On three, lift and walk towards me,” Derek said. “One, two, three.”

With all of their might, they managed to lift the large piece of stone, which covered another pile of debris. All seven of them threw pieces of debris from the pile, hoping they would be able to find someone else alive within all the devastation. Suddenly, Penelope saw another small hand. It had to be another child. Slowly, Derek uncovered another little girl - in about the same condition, but this time, she was frantically pointing back toward the pile - she wanted to go back.

“Is there someone else in there?” Emily asked.

“Yes,” the little girl said as best she could. “Guru.” Her voice was weak and dry, but she seemed to otherwise be okay. She had been protected by someone or something while she was under there - that much was obvious.

“That’s teacher,” Emily said. “A teacher was in there with her.” Penelope was hoping it was her friend, but considering her friend taught high school aged children, not elementary ones, the only way it could be her is if they happened to be where the bathroom used to be. If that was the case, Penelope had no doubt her friend would shelter a child from harm in the midst of a storm. 

The team returned to the pile, moving bits and pieces out of the way, until they saw another hand. The hand was twitching, but they couldn’t be sure if the person was alive until they moved the debris further.

“That ring,” Penelope said, stopping immediately. “That’s Y/N’s ring. It’s her.” Frantically, Penelope threw every bit of her weight into moving the garbage from her way. “Y/N!” she called. “Y/N, I’m coming! Move your fingers if you can here me.”

A slow twitch of the fingers made Penelope burst into tears. “Move, guys. Get her out of here.” After another few minutes of frantic movement, she was free. She slowly opened her eyes, puffy and scratched up from the debris and garbage that had pelted her three days ago. As soon as she saw her friend, she began to cry. “Penelope,” she croaked. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m looking for you, love,” she cried. “You didn’t think I’d leave you here by yourself, did you?”

Y/N started sobbing. “How is Annisa?” she asked, attempting to look around and failing.

“The little girl?” Derek asked.

“Yes,” she cried, “she was in her with me when the waves hit. I covered her. Is she okay?”

Derek kneeled down to pick her up, given that the force of the waves and debris had broken quite a few of her bones. “She’s okay. Cuts, scrapes, bruises, she’s dehydrated and needs food, but it didn’t look like there were any broken bones. You saved her life.”

“Oh thank god,” she sobbed, as Penelope kissed the top of her head.

“Y/N, you’re going to be okay. I promise,” she said, as they walked over to the medical tent. “I’m so proud of you.”


End file.
